For all of the accolades this book has gotten by Clarke fans - many considering it his best - I found it to be largely unfufilling, due in large part to it's rather empty ending. Unlike the grand happenings that finish off 2001 or the sense of mystery that permeates the end of the Rama book, Childhoods End tails off with an uninteresting series of events that ruins the story that preceded it, rather than tying up the story.

This is not to say that it was not a nice read - Clarke's worst is often better than other sci-fi authors best - but the wonder of so many of his other novels is simply not here. By all means recomended to big Clarke fans, but casual readers looking to see what the big Arthur C Clarke fuss is about should be pointed elsewhere.

(Side Note: the short story on which this book is based can be found in 'The Sentinel'...it is far and away better than the full length novel, and it *highly* recomended)


Probably the best science fiction novel ever written.   October 31, 1999
 10 out of 10 found this review helpful

I fell in love with movies when I first saw 2001: A Space Odyssey. I fell in love with books when I read this science-fiction masterpiece. Both deal with what one might transcendental evolution i.e. mankind taking the next or final step in ways way beyond science (or, at least, "explainable" science). No other novel I have ever read (s-f or otherwise) has ever filled me with such an epic feeling of loss and loneliness. This short tale -short by today's standards- tells of the sudden, but benign, invasion of Earth by a superior race from other space. The media dubs them "the Overlords". Clarke masterfully unveils their mysterious plans to midwife the human race as it unknowingly is about to give birth to the next generation. It will be a generation that bears very little resemblance to the ones before it. The three stories about 1) our first face to face meeting with the Overlords (a monumentally advanced race that sadly knows it will never get anymore advanced), 2) the Golden Age that follows their arrival to clear the way for the next generation and 3) the tradgedy of our species having to watch and comes to terms with its own extinction all fill you with awe and wonder. Clarke skillfully creates whole characters with economy and fluidity. His descriptions of other worlds would stop George Lucas and his wizards in their tracks. Those worlds are utterly alien and believable. However it the emotions of romance, yearning, loss and desolation that send you reeling. This book extends the reaches that 2001 sent you out on and it saddens you deeply. Few authors have ever used science better to thruster power their imagination. Clarke has done it many times in novels and stories. Childhood's End is his finest work.


Man's destiny   September 4, 2001
 10 out of 11 found this review helpful

Along with Rendevouz with Rama, this is probably one of A.C. Clarke's best known works (not counting 2001). In it he paints a portrait of an Earth under the protective wing of the Overlords, but man has no explaination...nor do they really need one. Only a handful of humans question the motives of the Overloads who have abolished everything from disease to poverty to war. The book is broken into three sections: arrival, the golden age, and the last generation. Each part is populated with believable and vulnerable characters. The only constant throughout the book is Karellen the Overlord who is the Supervisor of Earth. It is his task to prepare mankind for the destiny that awaits them.

Clarke does a great job making us feel like we are insignificant in this universe, and that there are stranger and more fantastical things possibly awaiting us. The concept of the ending (whick I won't give away), or the hook, of this book is quite interesting. While not a 5 starrer in my book, this is a great read, and one of the classis that has truly earned it's label. READ MORE CLASSICS!